Companies belonging to the SOHO segment usually lack the resources to implement the kind of PBX phone systems installed by huge companies. Large corporations boast communication systems that contain loads of features and services, which are expensive and require a good deal of resources to maintain. SOHO companies lack the kind of budget and expertise for implementing feature rich PBX systems. These companies have a cost effective alternative in the Hosted PBX systems (Virtual Phone Systems). In a Hosted PBX system, the equipment and hardware are maintained by a service provider. The functionalities of the PBX are provided through a dedicated high bandwidth phone or Internet connection. Hence this system is also called a Virtual Phone System. A Hosted PBX system is shared among numerous clients. Therefore the cost that comes down to individual clients is far less than that involved in a premises based system. A client need not install, maintain, or upgrade the PBX system. All the work is done by the service provider, at a low monthly rate.
Apart from the low cost and easy maintenance, hosted PBX systems are very flexible and scalable. A company gets only the number of phone connection that is required. This is especially beneficial for SOHO companies, since they use very few phone lines and need only pay for what they use. Moreover, newer lines can be added on demand. Hosted PBX service providers can allocate either local phone numbers or toll free numbers for small business. Getting a local number for a selected region helps in building a local presence without being physically present in that particular region. All calls to the number are automatically directed to the rightful recipient, without the caller being charged for long distant calls. Toll free numbers on the other hand help a small company seem big.
Service providers of hosted PBX systems help a SOHO company sound big. The Auto Attendants (Automated Attendants) that come with this kind of PBX phone systems contain a very professional sounding call greeting. This message can be customized according to company requirements. A caller gets an impression of a big company by hearing the quality voice message and the range of options that are given, such as dial by name, dial by extension, driving route, etc. Such kind of menu systems was previously affordable only to large companies such as the Fortune 500 companies. Extra features such as voice to email (Voice mail), fax to email (fax mail), and find me/follow me dialing are charged extra by conventional PBX companies. In a hosted PBX system, these features are available at no extra cost.
This article is written for AccessDirect, providers of hosted PBX phone systems with local numbers and toll free numbers, Auto Attendant, Voice Mail, Fax Mail, New York 212 numbers, virtual phone number, virtual receptionist, and business voicemail. Visit us at www.messagingservice.com
